14-Year Old Teen Visiting From Florida is Missing from Big Lake

Big Lake, Washington:  A 14-year old teen visiting Big Lake, Washington with her family has went missing under possible  suspicious circumstances.

According to the teens uncle, Jeff O’Connor,  the 14-year old teen, Katelyn Barlow of  Longwood,  Florida  had ate dinner with her family at a home in the 18000 block of S. Westview Road in Big Lake  and they were watching a movie.

Around 11:30 pm  the teen went to use the bathroom and was talking on her cell phone.   After using the restroom the teen stepped outside while still on her cell phone.  Her family says they haven’t  seen or heard from her since.

The family called 9-1-1 just after midnight to report the teen missing and several members of the family started driving around the area looking for her.  A Skagit County Sheriff’s Deputy  responded to the Big Lake area and met with the teens family.  The family told SkagitBreaking.com that the teen left wearing Pajama shorts and a dark-colored T-Shirt. She did not have any other items with her, except her cell phone.

The family tried to trace her cell phone and it pinged off of the I-5 area and later  pinged at the Smokey Point Rest Area. The family traveled to the rest area to search for signs of the girl or the cell phone and searched until around 4:00 am and  were unable to find either the girl or the phone.  They say all the teens belongings, including her clothing and cell phone charger  were accounted for back at the house  and it does not appear that she ran away. They say this is uncharacteristic of the teen and believe she was possibly abducted or  left against her will.

The family says they went back to the Sheriff’s Office to voice their concerns over the missing teen around 6:30 am and they say they  were met with hesitation from the Deputies at the Sheriff’s Office.

The family later  contacted the Washington State Patrol and asked them to meet at the Rest Area to help look for the missing girls cell phone.  A Washington State Patrol Trooper agreed to meet the family at the rest area and around 4:45 pm today and  the  Trooper located the teens cell phone at the rest area after a search of the area.  The family says the Trooper taped off the area with crime scene tape and documented where the phone was found and took photos of the area.

The family says once the cell phone was found, the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office refused to meet the Troopers at the Rest area and instead the Troopers put the cell phone in an evidence bag and gave it back to the family who transported the phone back to the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office around 6:00 pm today.

Katelynn Barlow is described as being 5’1″ tall with red hair and blue eyes.  A photo of the teen is shown below.

If you have any information on the missing teen or her whereabouts, you are asked to call the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office at 360-428-3211.  The family is also accepting tips at (407) 516-6696.

 

Below is a prepared statement from the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office on the Missing Teen:

 

Update: 07/19/2016:   The Federal Bureau of Investigation  Child Abduction Rapid Development Team has joined the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office in the search for missing 14-year old Katelyn “Katie” Barlow of Florida. She was last seen on Sunday, 07/17/2016 in Big Lake, Washington. The FBI team has more resources than a local police agency to track down endangered or missing children and teens.   The Skagit County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigations are still calling her case an endangered missing person case and are not labeling this as an abduction.